Monēta
（
ἀργυροκοπεῖον). A mint. In Persia the king enjoyed the
sole right of issuing gold money (see
Daricus); but
the cities on the coast of Asia Minor coined copper, silver, and even electrum coins at
pleasure; and the different satraps struck silver money bearing their own names. In Greece
proper and the Greek colonies each State or
πόλις issued such
money as it chose, so that a great variety of Greek coins have come down to us. Fully 2000
mints are known to have existed prior to the fall of the Roman Empire (A.D. 410). Sicily had
more than fifty different mints, and even the little island of Ceos had three. The cities of
Magna Graecia in Italy issued coins of a general uniformity, as did the Aetolian and Achaean
Leagues. Under the Romans the Greek cities ceased to coin silver money, except a few favoured
ones like Antioch, the Cappadocian Caesarea, and Tarsus, though copper coins were still struck
in many towns of Greece and Asia.
As the Roman dominion extended over Italy, the State gradually put down the rival issues of
Oscan, Etruscan, and other non-Latin coinages, and introduced a uniform system. At Rome,
however, various personages at different times controlled the mintage. In the city, money was
usually struck under the direction of three officials, the
triumviri
monetales; but generals in the field and abroad issued money as they found it necessary,
placing upon it not only their names but their effigies. When Augustus assumed the supreme
power he took to himself the sole right to issue gold and silver coins, leaving to the Senate
the mintage of copper. Hence copper coins of the Empire bore the letters S. C., indicating
that they were issued by authority of the Senate.
The ancient processes of minting were very simple. One engraved die was let into an anvil,
another into the end of a metal bar. Between the two was placed the blank, roughly cast into
the required shape and size and heated red hot. A single blow of a heavy hammer on the upper
end of the bar usually finished the coin, which was then removed by a pair
of tongs. Collars and milling were unknown. See
Numismatics.
